Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 29 May 2016

Well another fine going to be here in Gloucestershire, have fountain to clean out not hubbys favourite job, this hot weather gets the alge growing has in the pond, has anyone found putting a small amount of straw in there pond helps this? have heard it can.

YAS - has to be Barley Straw - buy it from pond/aquarium shop (including some garden centres).

EVERYONE - yes I have reappeared briefly - sorry about broken promises! BBL.

Thanks OG will try that has pond looking quite bad with the heat. yas

Morning all: Memorial Day here. A somber holiday weekend. Neighborhood was extraordinarily quiet yesterday. Everyone seemed to be home but hardly saw anybody out in their gardens, etc.

OG: Barley straw? I've just spent 15 minutes reading about it. I was thinking it could clog filters, even in bundles, but now I see it's more than likely one of the ingredients in the product I'm already using.

Showers yesterday morning (surprise!); gray all day and looks like gray all day today too.  I did a lot of cleaning out in the garage and got out my ancient Raleigh 3-speed bike to clean and haul off for new tire. Told my OH if I don't ride it in the next month I'll sell it.

So sad :-(  and disgraceful if it is human interference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-36413216

OG    Yes, very sad indeed.

How awful the zoo felt the only solution was to shoot the gorilla.   Hopefully this will be a lesson to parents to keep a very close eye on their children at all times.

Finally the weather has brightened up, though not warm.

Time I made my excuses!  Think I need to start at last Wednesday.  Had eye appt early that morning – still not quite right, so continuing steroid drops four times daily for one week then reducing to twice a day.  Rheumatology had been offering me cancellations for my nurse appt, but twice I had to turn them down due to being so busy.  Then they came up with later that same morning, so I grabbed the opportunity (halved the travel!) and was so lucky it turned out to be one of the doctors and I could have necessary injections.  Trigger finger was becoming unbearable, so immediate steroid injection in my hand, but doc also noticed how badly I was walking and how weary I was becoming, so also gave me an intramuscular injection and increased the dose of my main med.

That evening we went to the Theatre Royal in Dumfries (Scotland’s oldest and recently refurbished) for our next booked event: “Leaf by Niggle” by JRR Tolkien.  It was done by a puppet theatre company, but turned out to be a one-man show, with one story-teller actor being Tolkien himself and Niggle – and everyone else.  It was a fairy story, an allegory and an autobiography all at the same time – quite challenging too, on all levels, but an excellent production and very enjoyable theatre.

Thursday was busy catching up indoors and in the garden, while resting my hand, and on Friday I went to a women’s meeting at church while OH worked in the garden.  That evening, we went for an Italian Night at the Old Toll Bar, which was very good.  I had minestrone followed by ricotta and spinach cannelloni.  OH also had the soup, then lasagne, and then tiramisu!  J was at band practice, having re-joined his band at church.

Saturday was another day in the garden: staking, dead-heading and general tidying – and of course watering as we still have had no rain.  On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then drove cross-country (beautiful in the sunlight and with lovely long-distance views both sides of the border) for an early dinner in a hotel there.  We ate from the “Taste of the Borders” menu and both enjoyed harlequin eggs from a named source, pork in a local cider sauce and a very sensibly sized portion of cheesecake (OH had local ice cream with his).Then we went to our final show of the Arts Festival – a Jazz concert – Piano and Sax. 

Today has been a “normal” day – shopping, baking, washing, ironing, gardening.  My hand isn’t very happy with the iron, so I am only doing two garments at a session!  Dinner is progressing in the oven now, but hopefully I shall return with replies later.

OG - What a filled diary! Wonderful. We can't compete in any way except for your normal day, except that I don't bake very much nowadays. Sometimes scones but we don't have afternoon tea any more or indeed, elevenses:-( Just can't manage it and then eat a meal later. OH has just enjoyed a chicken Caesar salad. He will have a crème brulee with fresh raspberries later, and that will be it. So sad, we look back on our old menus, with nostalgia!

More gardening here, today. No sun until 5pm. Hedge cutting man will arrive tomorrow.

So sorry you've not had sun, Heather. We've had almost too much! After a trip to our favourite garden centre in Wales this morning, we had a salad lunch and then I literally lay down in a darkened room as it was much too hot outside for me. Later, talked to one of our neighbours who has three (!!) Springer Spaniels - the two older ones are very docile but the younger one is lively. Nothing like as lively as ours, though!

Just eaten some braised Welsh beef with onions and broccoli, and going to go and see the sun go down over the sea later as it was pretty last night.

OG - You are having your fair share of medical appointments these days. Glad you got more attention for your hand.

I was incensed about the peregrines - you bet it's humans. Grr!!